Six Months
by paigee.yovkoff
Summary: Month Six: "Oh I don't know. Some of it's been fun." - McCollins. AU Project Dakota. NOW COMPLETE.
1. Month One

**Six Months  
Words: **632**  
Couple: **Andy McNally and Nick Collins.**  
TV Show: **Rookie Blue.**  
Disclaimer: **All characters you recognize don't belong to me.**  
Post 3x13.  
Pre 4x01.  
READ A/N AT END.**

…

**Month One.**

Andy McNally tapped her pen against the blank page of the journal. The lines faint enough that if she adjusted her eyes a certain way they would fade back into the page and she'd forget they were there.

Over the last three weeks she'd filled almost half of the moleskin journal, words that had meant something then but not anymore. Ramblings about the case, about home, about _Sam_. She dropped the pen back on the table with a defeated sigh and lifted a hand to push her fringe from her face.

"Write anything tonight Shakespeare?" his voice called from the kitchen with a chuckle, bringing her attention away from the blank page.  
"You're hilarious Nick Collins. Hilarious."  
"Careful, that's not my name."

Rolling her eyes, Andy tucked the pen into the book and closed it, turning in her chair to watch him move around the kitchen. He'd been in there for a while, and she was sure that not even half-an-hour earlier she'd heard him mutter underneath his breath that he used up all the eggs. And at two o'clock in the morning she was starting to get confused.

"You okay in there?"  
"Yep."

Frowning, she stood up and slowly made her way to where the kitchen met the dining space, and almost found it hard to stop a giggle from escaping her lips.

"What are you doing?" she asked, a hand over her mouth to partially hide her amused expression.  
"Some of the stuff in the fridge was going to go off," Nick explained slowly, keeping one hand over a bowl to keep the beater going and another pulling plates down from the cupboard, "Used up all the eggs though. I kept burning it and by the time I got it right, there were no eggs left."  
"What did you keep burning?"  
"Only the best omelet you'll ever taste."

Andy raised her eyebrows, dropping her hand to the side as she moved further into the kitchen to inspect the damage. Sure enough, sitting there on the frying pan was a cooked omelet, topped with tomatoes and everything.

"Alright, so if that's omelet, what's that?" she questioned, pointing to bowl on the bench.  
"Pancake mix."  
"The milk wasn't going off though?"  
"I felt like pancakes."

She shook her head and stepped over to take the beaters from his hand and turned them off. Resting them against the side of the bowl she stepped back so he could reach across for the frying pan and plate the omelets that had been finished moments before.

"You know it's not healthy to eat this late," Andy pointed out to him with a smirk.  
"Technically it's early," Nick answered as he placed the frying pan back on the stove to go back to later, "And believe me, it's never stopped you before. Up at three am eating protein bars while scribbling in that notebook of yours."  
"Again, you're _hilarious_."

His chuckle made her shake her head slightly and it took her a moment to recognize that he'd moved to start tipping the pancake mix onto the pan. She glanced over at the omelet on the plate and stepped towards it, taking a fork from the open drawer.

Breaking off a bit and bringing it up to her mouth with the utensil se narrowed her eyes at it, "So you wanna tell me what's in this Gordon Ramsey?"  
"Anything that was in the fridge," Nick shrugged simply, "I'll make a list when I remember."  
"Oh you better remember," she ordered him through the mouthful of omelet, "This is good Collins."  
"Really?"  
"Really."

Her partner took the fork from her hands and mirrored her actions, his own eyes widening at the taste.

"Figure out what's in that," Andy told him, pointing at it, "You're making breakfast _every_ morning."

…

_Crosses-fingers-hoping-that-it-didn't-turn-out-as- bad-as-I-thought._

_So this is obviously AU. Started after Blackstone said that they went to Niagara for a biking trip, and this is so AU that eventually __**McCollins will because established**__. So AU that it also involves me outlining a sequel that re-writes a lot of what's happened in season four – primarily, their return and the whole McSwarek Peck/Collins drama. (Because there is this part of me that actually __**really really really ships Swarek/Cruz**__)_

_It'll follow the six months they're UC – pre-rescue – plus the weekend in Niagara. And because I'm not all that into bike-riding – or really, anything that involves exercise – I'll mostly be focusing on the fluffy McCollins._

_Bits of the story will be prompted by the things they let slip about the UC in the show. Like "I don't like going to bed angry" and dubbing French flims. So not a lot of it will be like completely AU. Things will pop up that they've mentioned, it won't all be new. (ISH)_

_I have written all of the chapters for this! So I'll try and get one up each day for the next week – there are seven chapters – and hopefully I won't forget to post._

_Let's just see how this ends up!_

_Thank you!_

_All mistakes are mine._

_Review?_


	2. Month Two

**Six Months  
Words: **507**  
Couple: **Andy McNally and Nick Collins.**  
TV Show: **Rookie Blue.**  
Disclaimer: **All characters you recognize don't belong to me.**  
Post 3x13.  
Pre 4x01.**

…

**Month Two.**

He'd needed an in. Something in common with his boss. And she'd handed it to him on a platter.

They'd been arguing for the last week. Small things that came with the pretending to be domestic. It was mostly for show, like a lot of the things that had occurred over the last two months, but there were parts of it that were real.

That were _them_.

She was angry with him for not trusting her.

He trusted her. 100%. He always had. From the moment he stepped into 15 Division. He needed to after all, they were going to be working together in a high risk environment where if you didn't trust each other, you were going to get hurt and someone could die. It was like that with all of the officers at 16 Division, he trusted them all. Some more than others. But trusted them nonetheless.

That what they made it seem like for the men they were trying to make an in with. That he didn't trust her enough to let her do her 'job'.

Which in the case of the men they were trying to make an in with, was not being a cop. Was being a _dancer_.

Underlying it all, she was mad that he wouldn't expose her to the suspects more. Let her get a read on them herself. In the last two months she'd only met a few of them twice, and the ones she _had _met were too low on the totem pole for her to get _anything_.

So they argued. They argued a lot. She'd taken to dropping him off where he needed to be for the last few weeks, just so the people he was 'working' with would be exposed to it. It was supposed to be a ploy, to get the boss talking about his own family, his own wife.

But their plan? His way in with the boss? It followed them home.

He'd watched her sit there at the table, her pen scratching the paper of her new moleskin journal – she'd finished her first one sometime towards the end of their first month undercover – and he'd realize that they weren't pretending. There really was a part of her that was _pissed off _at the lack of exposure to the suspects and she wasn't going to give up until _he gave in_.

"Andy?"

She barely acknowledge him, giving a short hum in reply.

"I hate going to bed angry."

When she turned to look at him, he could only give her a small smile and was almost relieved when she stood up and came to sit on the opposite end of the couch with her legs tuck up underneath herself and her face resting against her palm that was propped up by her elbow on the edge of the couch.

"Tell me."  
"Tell you what Nick?"  
"Your plan to get in with the girlfriend."

She nodded slowly, but told him the plan.

And he was damn glad that they would be going to bed angry.

…

_Plucking a prompt straight from the start of the season. Go me? Go me._

_I have an outline of how I want McColins to happen. Now let's hope the muse dragon has the same ideas._

_Thank you!_

_All mistakes are mine._

_Review?_


	3. Month Three

**Six Months  
Words: **312**  
Couple: **Andy McNally and Nick Collins.**  
TV Show: **Rookie Blue.**  
Disclaimer: **All characters you recognize don't belong to me.**  
Post 3x13.  
Pre 4x01.**

…

**Month Three.**

His kiss is fuzzing up her mind and has her glancing at him across the bar. He's leaning on the pool table talking to some of the people he's working with and damn her if he isn't one of the most distracting men she's met.

"You've caught a good one," the woman to her left giggles, nudging her while she takes a sip of her drink.

(Andy finds herself choking back how repulsed she is at the cliché. The men discussing work while the woman giggle and gossip in the corner? She'd promised herself when she was younger that she'd _never _end up like that. Look at where she was now.)

"Broad shoulders, oh _God _you can almost see his muscle through his jacket," another woman sitting across from her adds, sneaking a look over at him in at the same time.

(And it kills her that if they were anywhere else she wouldn't really be able to admit it. Even when she was with Sam. Even when he first started. She wouldn't deny it. He _was _attractive.)

"The hot ones are always the best in bed," the one to her right smirks – her target, Elise, she's the boss' wife, she reminds herself – "Please tell me that he lives up to the stereotype."  
"Which one?" Andy frowns, taking a sip of her own drink.

(She'd be asking for straight tequila for weeks straight when she gets home. Unable to stand the pink cocktails she's been forced to drink to maintain her cover.)

"Strong and silent in public, but damn loud in bed."

When she chokes on her drink, Andy covers it up with a laugh, joining the three woman in theirs.

Mostly she's surprised because there's that small part of her that wants to know.

(That's also the part of her that can't get the damned cover kisses out of her head.)

…

_So that was month three. Guess what's next!_

_The bike ride in Niagara!_

_Thank you!_

_All mistakes are mine._

_Review?_


	4. Niagara Falls

**Six Months  
Words: **711**  
Couple: **Andy McNally and Nick Collins.**  
TV Show: **Rookie Blue.**  
Disclaimer: **All characters you recognize don't belong to me.**  
Post 3x13.  
Pre 4x01.  
Established Andy/Nick.**

…

**Niagara Falls.  
Month Three – Month Four.**

"If you got us lost again, I'm taking back your right to gloating about being taught this shit in the Army," Andy called out from where she stood, leaning against a tree with narrowed eyes and her arms tucked across her chest.  
"I didn't get us lost," he told her, rolling his eyes as he made his way back to her, "I found the trail, are you done with the tantrum?"

He watched her let out a huff before she stood up straight and took a hole of her bikes handles, pushing it along in the direction he'd come from. Nick Collins gave a smile before following her, warning her to be careful because there was a hidden branch on the ground that would undeniably be the reason he'd double over in laughter at her thousandth fall that weekend.

"You're an ass, you know that right Collins?"  
"Well you're supposed to very hand-eye coordinated McNally," he chuckled, "It sort of comes hand-in-hand with being a cop."

When she finally hit the trail, she stopped and rested the bike on a near-by tree, turning around to scowl at him as he mirrored her actions.

"Hey Andy."  
"What."  
"Feel like swimming?"

The frown that graced her face left him smiling as he stepped forward. Placing his hands on her waist he watched for a moment as a flicker of realization passed through her eyes and she went to fight as he lifted her up and over his shoulder.

"Nick Collins! Put me down!"

Walking down into the lake less than a few meters away she's trying her hardest to fight against his grip on her, but she's laughing too hard for it to be 100% serious. When he's walked far enough into the water to do so, he drops her. He has her pushed off his shoulder and about a meter in front of him within seconds. Andy is immediately kicking her legs, pushing her way back to the surface and splashing water in his face as he laughs.

"Screw you Collins."  
"Andy, I didn't know you felt that way!" he smirks, his laughter dying down.  
"You're sleeping on the floor for the rest of this trip."  
"Don't believe you."

Nick is slowly moving towards her, now hip deep in the lake. Andy shakes her head and pushes her /drench hair from her face. When he reaches her, she's immediately resting her hands on his chest and moving them up to his shoulders.

"Don't even try to dunk me McNally, not gonna work."  
"Who says I was going to try that?" she questions with a smile, using her hands placement to pull herself up to his height and stay balanced as she wraps her legs around his waist.  
"Experience."

She can feel his hands holding her waist and she's flush up against him. Andy's own hands are in his hair and pulling his lips down to meet hers without hesitation.

Everything between them was so new, so _different_. She could barely think straight around him, and being able to do this without having to pretend they're different people is making butterflies attack the lining of her stomach.

"We have about twelve hours left until we have to leave," he murmurs against her lips, moments later and out of breath.  
"Have to make the most of it," Andy says smiling.

His smirk returns to his face, and she's pulling backwards to look at him with narrow eyes, knowing he was going to make a move.

"I'm still up for a bit of swimming, if you're not worn out from the ride here."

Her eyesbrows raise, almost meeting her hair line as she tries to figure out what his next move is. She feels him lift her a bit and she's trying to cling onto him as hard as she can when he pulls her with him underwater.

He legs unlatch from his waist and she pushes herself back up to break the water's surface again, a determined look on her face as she tries to find him again.

"I'm gonna _kill_ you Nick Collins."  
She jumps slightly when she feels his hands on her waist from behind and his lips at her ear, "I'd like to see you try McNally."

…

**_Note: _**_This chapter is based loosely on what I think is my sleep-deprived imagination of one of the many areas in the Niagara Region. I did some googling, but the map took too long to load so I just went on with the fluffy shit._

_So I guess you could say that McCollins become canon sometime between the last chapter and this one, and I can totally see season four in a different way now that I've written this._

_But anyhoo!_

_Months four + five and their rescue to go!_

_Thank you!_

_All mistakes are mine._

_Review?_


	5. Month Four

**Six Months  
Words: **578**  
Couple: **Andy McNally and Nick Collins.**  
TV Show: **Rookie Blue.**  
Disclaimer: **All characters you recognize don't belong to me.**  
Post 3x13.  
Pre 4x01.  
Established Andy/Nick.**

…

**Month Four**

"Turn that shit off!" he hears her yell from the bedroom, seconds after putting the film on.  
"There's nothing else on Andy, you'll have to get over it."  
"I'm so over French movies," she tells him, and he looks over his shoulder to watch her make her way back into the lounge room, "I can't understand anything they're saying and I think you're translating is a bit off."  
"Well I haven't actually spoken French since high school, so it could be."

Nick smiles as she rolls her eyes at him. They both know that statement isn't true, and he knows that humoring her will only get him in trouble later in the day when she realizes what he's done.

"There has to be something else on, even kids shows. I'd rather watch puppets run around a giant garden with a giant baby in the sky," she tells him, moving around the kitchen with ease.  
"I think you're referring to _In The Night Garden_, and we couldn't watch that anymore because you were threatening to, and I quote, 'shoot a stupid bitch' because she couldn't see that the other one was right behind her."

He can hear groan as she stands on her toes to reach a glass in the cupboard, and Nick can tell that she won't deny that she had gotten frustrated over a kid's show.

"Anything but that French crap, _please_?"

When she enters the lounge room again, a glass of water in one hand and a bag of chips in another, Nick is reaching for the remote to mute the TV.

"Okay then," he says after the TV goes silent, with a cough he clears his throat, "_Aw no_, Miss McN_aa_lly, I believe he iz innocent!"

He glances at her to find her hand frozen inches from her mouth, a chip between her fingers. Her eyes are wide and he watches her as she tries to process what he'd just said.

"You're a dork. Either you're trying to imitate that French guy who we though stabbed his girlfriend or you have _actually_ gone insane."  
"Come on! It's fun!" he laughs, "You just pretend you're the people on the screen and you don't even have to speak French!"  
"Yeah, you're insane," she shakes her head with a laugh, "You're lucky you're hot, or this would seriously be a deal-breaker for me."  
Nick smirks and leans closer to her, "It's either this, or you go down the street to that rental shop and you're forced to socialize with the guy who tried to pick you up by asking what star sign you were."

Watching her cock her head to the side, he knows that he's given her a hard choice. Though he also knows that she'd do _anything _to stay away from that shop. When she puts the chip in her mouth and drops the packet of chips in his lap, using her hand to push him away, he has frowns and follows her with his eyes.

"And what are you doing?"  
"Being a dork," she tells him casually, "But I'm going to need alcohol to do so, or else I'll just have to risk being hit on again."

A smile lights up Nick's face as she takes two beers out of the fridge and he's having to restrain himself from laughing as she tries not to show him just how much more fun the idea of dubbing French movies is to anything else in their apartment.

…

_Eh. Not too amazing. But not too bad. It's a fine line, right?_

_Thank you!_

_All mistakes are mine._


	6. Month Five

**Six Months  
Words: **376**  
Couple: **Andy McNally and Nick Collins.**  
TV Show: **Rookie Blue.**  
Disclaimer: **All characters you recognize don't belong to me.**  
Post 3x13.  
Pre 4x01.  
Established Andy/Nick.**

…

**Month Five.**

There's someone sitting on the stairs leading to their door when they return from their 5k jog, sometime during their fifth month undercover. Nick is quick to identify them as Luke Callaghan, but he's not entirely sure how to approach the situation. He can feel Andy's hand reach out for him, and he squeezes it, trying to assure her that it'll be okay.

"Narcotics are sending another guy in, we're trying to finish this and quick," the detective tells them instantly, his eyes not leaving the manila file in his hands, "Detective Blackstone will be meeting with you guys tomorrow."  
"Something going on back at HQ?" Nick questions cautiously.  
"They want this finished, and quick, something to do with budgets for major operations getting thin. Divisions are down too many officers because of it, and they need more people on the streets."

Beside him, Andy nods, and they both understand that he's talking primarily about 15 division.

"This is for you guys," he hands Nick the file, "From now on your main contact will be with Blackstone, and all orders will come through him. He'll be talking you through what's going to happen and what should result from it."  
"You got reassigned?"  
"I'm still lead on the operation, my name goes on everything," Luke starts, standing up off the stairs.  
"But we're no longer reporting to the both you," Andy clarifies.  
"Just until it's over, we're looking at close to a month, maybe two. We're close."

The partners can only nod, and Nick is holding the file close to his side as Detective Callaghan makes to leave.

"Luke?"

He watches the detective turn around and his eyebrows raise.

"Nothing's going on at home that's making this happen right? It's just budget cuts, right?"  
"Everything is fine at 15," Callaghan assures them, "Just good luck."

When he's walked out the front door of the apartment building, Nick turns to look at Andy, the thought of going home leaving the two of them excited, but so, _so_ nervous.

"Tomato omelets for breakfast?" she asks, trying to change the mood set between the two.  
"Breakfast burritos?"  
"Oh, you know how to read my mind Collins," Andy smiles, pulling him by the hand up the stairs to their front door.

…

_One more to go!_

_From the next chapter I'll see how I go with writing a re-write of season 4. Not the entire thing of course, just major bits and pieces, maybe the fall out of their new relationship and how it affects major cases and decisions. Primarily the whole Marlo/Bi-polar and Christian going missing. But I do have to write the warning now. If I do write that it __**will **__be Est. Swaruz throughout. And haters shall be sentenced to the fandom prisons. Kdot? c:_

_Anyhoo._

_Thank you!_

_All mistakes are mine._

_Review?_


	7. Month Six

**Six Months  
Words: **538**  
Couple: **Andy McNally and Nick Collins.**  
TV Show: **Rookie Blue.**  
Disclaimer: **All characters you recognize don't belong to me. Quotes are from 4x01.**  
Post 3x13.  
During 4x01.  
Established Andy/Nick.**

…

**Month Six.**

Andy McNally frowns, walking over to where he was lying on the couch fast asleep. He hadn't come to bed the previous night, and she hadn't been surprised to find him asleep with some foreign film playing on the television. Since their target had begun believing that people were going to be moving in on his turf, last night hadn't been the first time he had been working on nights they were supposed to have to themselves.

She weighed the bag of frozen peas in her hand gingerly, sitting carefully beside his sleeping form and lightly pressing the bag to his eye. Andy could hear him mumble under his breath, and could only sigh as he went to push her hand away from his face.

"Blackstone got you pretty hard Nick, you're going to have to let me hold ice to it or it'll probably get bad again," she tells him quietly, in fear of actually waking him up.  
"Hm, 's cold," he murmurs in reply.  
"Yeah, but it's good for you," Andy smiles, "Unlike sleeping on the couch."

She's watching him smile slightly, his eyes opening slowly as he reaches up to hold a hand over hers. Helping him sit up, she pulls the bag away from his eye only to return it when he's sitting up straight.

"What now?"  
"We lay low, wait for them to make the next move."  
"God I love it when you're all professional," Nick smirks, wincing when he moves against the bag of ice, "Such a turn on."  
Andy shakes her head, her lip between her teeth, "Well if they think McAllister is moving in on their operation things are bound to move faster. Which is good. Six months hanging with these idiots."  
"Oh I don't know. Some of it's been fun."

She bites harder down on her lip, trying to stop herself from jumping him. They're hardly left with much of a choice in how things will turn out after the operation. There'll be people to deal with and things to confess.

"Yeah," she nods, raising her other hand to his cheek, "Yeah it has."

…

Entering 15 Division, both Andy McNally and Nick Collins feel the adrenaline wearing off slowly. Smiling and greeting officers they recognize on the way to Frank Best's office, the pair begin to let it settle in.

_They're home_.

Just as they're about to reach the desks, Andy's hand reaches for his, partially to assure herself that it was real. That he was still there. That they made it out. When he stops her, turning her to face him, Andy has to take in a deep breath to calm whatever nerves were building up.

"I'm sorry," she hears him whisper.  
"We'll talk about it after the debrief."  
"Tomato omelets and French movies?" Nick asks, with a smile.  
Andy can't help the smirk that graces her lips, "You talking about dinner or breakfast?"

He shrugs, just as Traci Nash's voice is heard calling their names. Andy reaches up on her toes to kiss him quickly, flashing him a smile before dropping his hand and greeting her best friend.

Everything else could wait until later, because all that mattered was that they did it. They made it home.

…

_And here we go! All done, tied with a bow and everything._

_If anyone from the Haven fandom notices the egg I dropped, no matter how minor it was, you and I shall become best friends. Especially after the season premiere we got!_

_Off the top of my head there was only one thing left out of this story related to their UC mission – 'More than Words'? OMG. What I would have given to see Nick Collins sing to that – but by the time I'd finished everything else I didn't know where to put it._

_Plans have sort of started for a sequel to this. Can't say when it'll be up, if I go through with it at all. But like I said in an earlier AN, it'll be McCollins and Swaruz throughout._

_Though besides that maybe-gonna-happen McCollins story I currently have nothing planned or the couple right now! Will probably have to work on actually doing work for the time being, tie some loose ends on the McSwarek and Densi stories I currently have going and then invest everything into a multi-chapter McCollins that has more of a plot and a lot more fluff. Let's see how it goes, shall we!_

_Thank you for the favourites/follows/reviews!_

_All mistakes are mine._

_Review?_


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